Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Table of cases
- Table of statutes
- 1 Introduction to the Act
- 2 What is a civil partnership? Formation by registration in England and Wales: eligibility
- 3 Pre-registration procedure: standard procedure; house-bound and detained partners; certain non-residents and other special cases
- 4 Registration in England and Wales – the standard procedure; the special procedure
- 5 Registration outside the UK by Order in Council
- 6 Overseas relationships treated as civil partnerships
- 7 Financial and property implications of civil partnership
- 8 Children
- 9 Relationship between the Civil Partnership Act and the Gender Recognition Act
- 10 The ending of the partnership: orders for dissolution
- 11 Nullity and other proceedings
- 12 Offences
- 13 Domestic violence and occupation of the home
- 14 Financial consequences on breakdown
- 15 Financial relief in England and Wales after an overseas dissolution
- 16 Miscellaneous
- Appendix Civil Partnership Act 2004 – extracts
- Index
8 - Children
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Table of cases
- Table of statutes
- 1 Introduction to the Act
- 2 What is a civil partnership? Formation by registration in England and Wales: eligibility
- 3 Pre-registration procedure: standard procedure; house-bound and detained partners; certain non-residents and other special cases
- 4 Registration in England and Wales – the standard procedure; the special procedure
- 5 Registration outside the UK by Order in Council
- 6 Overseas relationships treated as civil partnerships
- 7 Financial and property implications of civil partnership
- 8 Children
- 9 Relationship between the Civil Partnership Act and the Gender Recognition Act
- 10 The ending of the partnership: orders for dissolution
- 11 Nullity and other proceedings
- 12 Offences
- 13 Domestic violence and occupation of the home
- 14 Financial consequences on breakdown
- 15 Financial relief in England and Wales after an overseas dissolution
- 16 Miscellaneous
- Appendix Civil Partnership Act 2004 – extracts
- Index
Summary
Introduction
While not particularly complex or lengthy, the legislative changes in respect of the children of civil partners are critical to any statutory scheme which is intended to give the fullest possible recognition to every aspect of a civil partnership. Most importantly, the Act provides for a civil partner to acquire parental responsibility for a child, either by agreement or by court order. It also extends the statutory definition of ‘child of the family’ to include the children of a civil partnership. Civil partners are added to the class of persons who are entitled as of right to apply under the Children Act for residence and contact orders, and, as part of the significant changes brought about by the Adoption and Children Act 2002, civil partners may apply jointly for an adoption order.
Parental responsibility
Parental responsibility is defined by section 3(1) of the Children Act 1989 as ‘all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property’.
Although there is no more detailed definition contained in the Children Act or preceding statutes, a substantial body of case law demonstrates that parental responsibility embraces many and varied aspects of a child's life, ranging from the power to appoint a guardian for the child by will, consenting to, or refusing, medical treatment for the child or choosing the child's school to determining the child's religious upbringing and naming the child.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Civil Partnership Act 2004A Practical Guide, pp. 45 - 48Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005